Book: David West Read
Music and Lyrics: Max Martin and Friends
Director: Luke Sheppard
Unless you’re a music industry insider, you might well react, as did this reviewer at first, with a blank look at 
the name of Max Martin. However, since the late 1990s, this prolific Swedish songwriter and producer has worked with some of the best-known names in pop to create much of the soundtrack of the last thirty years or so. Amazingly, he’s second only to Paul McCartney in terms of the number of number-one singles written. So it’s perhaps unsurprising that his canon should be ransacked to create a jukebox musical, and & Juliet is the result.
In & Juliet, we look at what might have happened had Juliet not killed herself at the end of, well, that other well-known play in which she’s a character. It takes a sideways look at how much agency we all, especially women, have in our own lives and the extent to which other people control us. In Juliet’s case, the controller is Shakespeare himself, who, as & Juliet opens, has just written the somewhat downbeat ending of Romeo and Juliet and is pitching it to the company. His wife, Anne Hathaway, appears (she has managed to get a babysitter for the girls) and a tussle ensues as she is sure there’s a better story and ending for Juliet. So we see Juliet not kill herself but run away to Paris with her nurse and some newly introduced friends, April (whom Hathaway writes for herself to perform) and May, a non-binary friend. In Paris, they find Lance, who is on a wild goose chase to marry off his son, Francois, and a plot of Shakespearean proportions and unlikely coincidences unfolds until Hathaway breaks Shakespeare’s quill meaning that what’s done is done and each character is finally able to make their own choices and fulfil their own destiny, by no means a foregone conclusion
If that all sounds just a bit heavy, fear not. This is not a worthy exploration of sexual politics (although it does that too); rather, it is a loud, colourful and joyful evening. & Juliet never takes itself seriously: a seriously funny book from David West Read, with lines delivered with perfect comic timing by the cast, makes for laugh-out-loud moments, as well as the occasional sly breaking of the fourth wall. Along the way, there are some seriously fine musical performances too, in songs which do not feel shoe-horned into the plot.
The chemistry between Jay McGuiness as Shakespeare and Lara Denning’s Anne Hathaway is palpable. Both have terrific voices with Denning truly pulling at the heartstrings as she reflects on their relationship with That’s The Way It Is. Both also throw themselves into the comedy. Sandra Marvin (Juliet’s nurse and tower of strength, Angelique) has a booming singing voice that seems to work up from her feet before bursting out to fill the theatre. She also has a great line in deadpan delivery of funny lines and terrific physicality. Kyle Cox brings a believable hesitancy to Francois as he finds himself pushed into hasty and maybe rash decisions, while Jordan Broatch is pitch-perfect as May. And in true Shakespearean tradition, Shakespeare decides to introduce conflict by having Romeo reappear having also not died after all; Ben Jackson-Walker (who originated the role on Broadway) provides us with something of a dullard who wears his heart on his sleeve and who somehow gets us on his side.
The casting of Ranj Singh, better known as a TV doctor, as Lance might seem to have neither rhyme nor reason: in fact, he makes a more-than-decent fist of it. He’s obviously loving the slapstick elements of the role, including an outrageous cod-French accent. While he’s not called on to sing much, he can carry a tune and he delivers possibly the funniest line of the night impeccably.
At the centre, of course, is Juliet (Gerardine Sacdalan). Sacdalan takes us on Juliet’s journey as she begins to break out of the straitjacket in which Shakespeare has trapped her and, for good or ill, make her own decisions, a journey we are all willing her to take. She discovers that the world is her oyster; we can’t help but wait with baited breath to see what is in her heart of hearts and what brave new world she might find in her future.
Luke Sheppard’s direction is tight, allowing the production to move seamlessly in all its camp glory. He’s assisted by the almost comic book set design of Soutra Gilmour and the streetwise choreography of Jennifer Weber.
& Juliet is a gloriously camp, colourful and fabulous night out – don’t miss it
Runs until 3 May 2025 and on tour
The Reviews Hub Score
Gloriously Camp
